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Monday, 1 July 2013

A small demonstration in the center of the biggest south Bohemian city,
České Budějovice, on Saturday turned into an unruly xenophobic march to a
neighborhood with a dense Roma population. It took many hours before the
police, using smoke grenades and tear gas, were able to disperse hundreds
of extremists who threw bottles and stones, lit up garbage containers, and
chanted racist slogans. Thirty-nine people were detained.

Photo: CTK
To understand the context of the situation, which comes just weeks after
similar anti-Roma unrest in the north Bohemian town of Duchcov, I spoke to
Miroslav Mareš, an expert on far-right extremism based at Brno’s Masaryk
University, and asked him if this weekend’s events were any different
from what we have seen in the past few year.
“I think the difference is mostly the location and the territorial
spread of the ethnic riots from northern Bohemia to other parts of the
Czech Republic. However, if we remember last year in Břeclav in Southern
Moravia there were several similar riots to the ones now in České
Budějovice. Maybe then we see that this type of ethnic riots, where the
‘normal’ citizens protest together with right-wing extremists, that’s
nothing new in the Czech Republic. There is a stable progression [of these
events], at least from [the riots] in Janov, in northern Bohemia, in
2008.”
So, why did the events of this weekend happen now? What could be the
‘bigger-picture’ cause for this?Miroslav Mareš, photo: archive of Miroslav Mareš
“This took place after the clash between a Roma family and ethnic Czech
family, where one Czech woman was attacked by a Roma woman. So, this was
the starting incident. However, we can see similar tensions in many
so-called socially excluded localities around the Czech Republic. So,
yesterday it was in České Budějovice, however next week it could be in
Jihlava, or northern Bohemia or Přerov, for example.”
So, you are saying that this is part of a bigger trend?
“Yes, I think this is not connected only to the situation in České
Budějovice. It is connected with rising ethnic tensions in the whole of the
Czech Republic.”
Is this in any way connected to the economic situation right now, or does
the extremism that accompanies these kinds of riots have roots in something
completely different?
“I think there are many factors. Of course, the economic situation is
one of them, however also the discontent with Roma crime and delinquency,
as well as this subjective feeling of insecurity is a very important issue
in this whole radicalization.”
And in terms of the influence that extremists have on the society as a
whole…You said that there is a trend where non-extremists getting
involved in these riots. Does this mean that these extremist movements will
gain more popularity as time goes on?Photo: CTK

“There is no strong right-wing extremist party in the Czech Republic.
The Workers’ Party of Social Justice, which is the most important
representative of the extreme right, is very weak. They only had one person
running in the last election. So, this could potentially be a reason for
the rise of a new populist movement. On the other hand, there are more
important factors for electoral behavior in the Czech Republic, which are
mostly in the socio-economic sphere, and it is mostly the dissatisfaction
with established politics. Don’t forget, we now have a governmental
crisis, we have many scandals involving governing parties and so on.”